Jewish Patriots in the American Revolution

Unsung History

In the Continental Army, one company of patriots in Charleston, South Carolina, was a majority Jewish, and at least fifteen Jewish soldiers in the Army achieved the rank of officer during the American Revolution, something unheard of in European armies at the time. Though their numbers were small (in proportion with their population in the colonies), Jewish patriots participated in the war, and in the Early Republic they insisted on their full citizenship in the new nation. I’m joined in this episode by Dr. Adam Jortner, the Goodwin Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion in the Department of History at Auburn University and author of A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Jewish Longing,” by Ashot Danielyan from Pixabay, used in accordance with the Pixabay content license. The episode image is a drawing of a colonial American couple with a Hanukkah menorah; the image is believed to be in the public domain, and the source is unknown.

Additional sources:

• “Recife,” Dutch Port Cities Project, the Global Asia initiative, New York University.
• “From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America, Timeline 1700s,” Library of Congress.
• “Total Jewish Population in the United States (1654 - Present),” Jewish Virtual Library.
• “Jews in Early America: From Inquisition to Freedom,” Touro Synagogue Foundation.
• “Men of Mordechai: Jewish Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces,” by Jessie Kratz, Pieces of History, National Archives, May 18, 2021.
• “One Jew’s Financial Support for the Revolutionary War,” The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
• “Francis Salvador, the First Jewish Member of a Legislative Assembly in American History,” by Nathan Dorn, Library of Congress Blog, May 5, 2020.
• “Washington’s Letter,” George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom.
• “The Bill of Rights: How Did it Happen?” National Archives.
• “First Amendment and Religion,” United States Courts.

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